Work in Progress
How workplace experiences while at school affect career pathways
Summary
- Item:
- 10336
- Title:
- How workplace experiences while at school affect career pathways
- Type:
- Managed research project
- Project no:
- NR4006
- Status:
- Finished
- Date commenced:
- 1 July 2004
- Contact:
- Erica Smith
- phone: +61 3 5327 9665
- email: e.smith@ballarat.edu.au
Purpose
The research will examine school students' past-school pathways and the extent to which they are influenced by the engagement with workplaces that they experienced while at school. The research will be undertaken using two existing databases gained through previous NREC studies, comprising 798 recent school-leavers all of whom expressed interest in being involved in a follow-up study. The first database comprises 413 students from NSW and SA and the second database comprises 385 students (all school-based new apprentices) from Qld, Vic and SA.
The outcome will be a report mapping the young people's post-school employment and study pathways and describing and analysing the links between their pathways and the workplace engagement that they had whilst still at school.
To the researchers' knowledge it will be the first major follow-upon study of school-based new apprentices, and will be the first follow-up study that systematically compares the effects of engagement in VET in schools, work experience and paid part-time work.
Approach
Data collection (questionnaire) and analysis.
Research questions
* To what extent does involvement with workplaces (including multiple involvement) while at school affect school-leavers' subsequent pathways, and in what ways?
* How can multiple pathways be described and conceptualised?
* What are the students' views about the worth to them of their different involvements with workplaces? (this question will include exploration of the role of such involvement in the decision about when to leave school)
* Do different groups of students (eg equity groups and those leaving school at different year levels) have different perceptions and experiences in relation to the links between workplace experiences while at school and post-school pathways?
Methodology
Overview
A survey will be sent to all students (n=798) who took part in either of the two previous projects and who indicated their willingness to be contacted at a later stage for a follow-up project.
Stage 1: Form reference group, literature review, first reference group teleconference to advise on questionnaire, devise and pilot questionnaire
Stage 2: Administer questionnaire and undertake preliminary analysis of data
Stage 3: Analyse data, seek feedback from reference group, prepare draft final report
Further statistical analysis may be performed in SPSS depending on the initial cross-tab analysis. Content analysis of the qualitative data will be carried out if deemed appropriate.
Key messages will be distilled from the analysis of the two types of data. The reference group will be asked to make comments and provide interpretation based on their specific areas of expertise as well as to request additional analysis. Additional expert commentators will be sought as the project is likely to attract and reveal other interested parties.
Stage 4: Final report preparation.
Organisations
VET research at Charles Sturt University began with major projects on enterprise training and on competency-based training, in 1994. Since then, under the banner of GREAT - the Group for Research in Employment and Training - many national projects as well as smaller consultancies have been undertaken by VET staff. GREAT had a high reputation in the Australian VET research community.
In 2002, the VET Research Group was formed, following the incorporation of GREAT into another CSU research centre. The Group, now called Research in Vocational Education and Training (RIVET) has five core members and is funded by CSU as a Community of Scholars. The five members are: Associate Professor Erica Smith, Dr Peter Rushbrook, Mr Richard Pickersgill, Ms Ros Brennan and Ms Annette Green.
